Ecoclean helps to save power, water by 30% in BMW plant

Industrial parts cleaning and surface processing products manufacturer Ecoclean Monschau, has implemented a reference project at the BMW Group’s engine plant in Steyr (Austria) in association with the Technical University of Vienna. The company claims that the project has significantly raised the energy efficiency of a flexible EcoCFlex Classic robot cell that had been in service for several years.
“The system’s electric power and water consumption were each cut by around 30 per cent. These energy efficiency measures are now intended to be implemented on another 95 systems of the same type installed at various sites throughout Europe and Asia,” the company said.

The BMW Group has been using EcoCFlex Classic robot cells made by Ecoclean Monschau for around 12 years in several of their factories to debur and clean engine parts such as cylinder heads for diverse car models. At the Steyr (Austria) engine plant, 30 first-generation units of this flexible cleaning machine are in use. Their cleaning performance was beyond reproach. However, in terms of energy efficiency, the systems were no longer up to today’s standards. Their water consumption in particular has proved too high.

“Ecoclean has developed a potential analysis especially for this type of task. In their investigation, the equipment maker’s service staff will focus on factors such as the water consumption, cleaning agent input, electricity demand of power drawing equipment, and the consumption of compressed air. Flow measurements revealed that large quantities of vapour were extracted from the cleaning cell, causing the machine’s elevated water consumption. Furthermore, the analysis identified a major electricity saving potential in operation of the feed pumps,” the company said in a statement.